Roads in Ukraine may become toll roads after the war, says the head of the Recovery Agency
Once the war ends, Ukraine may face the need to introduce toll roads due to the massive scale of infrastructure reconstruction required.
This was stated by Serhiy Sukhomlyn, head of the Recovery Agency, in an interview with Texty.
According to him, the scope of work in the road sector will be so vast that international funding may not be sufficient. Therefore, alternative sources will have to be sought, including the introduction of road tolls.
“For Ukraine, the introduction of toll roads is, most likely, a matter of time. The main thing is to determine the right model,” he noted.
Among the options is a tolling system, which is widely used around the world: Hungary and Moldova have a vignette system—payment for a specific period of road use—while in Italy, drivers pay based on the distance traveled through special toll stations.
Sukhomlyn believes that the optimal model for Ukraine would be one in which drivers pay only for high-quality roads.
“If the Kyiv–Zhytomyr road is brought up to standard—smooth pavement, fast and safe traffic—then the driver understands what they’re paying for. But if there’s a problematic section further on, then no fee should be charged for it,” he explained.
According to him, after the infrastructure is fully restored, such sections can be gradually included in the toll system, specifically with automatic tracking of distance traveled.
In Ukraine, over 1 million square meters of road surface damage have been repaired since the beginning of the year—the highest figure in the last six years.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko has instructed the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development to intensify the search for additional resources to repair roads under state guarantees and with the participation of international partners.
